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Salinas pleads guilty to Ennen murder, gets life sentence

Prosecutors dropped the aggravated kidnapping charge against Salinas as a result of the plea.

Salinas

Ennen

The killer of 15-year-old Elizabeth Ennen, whose 2011 disappearance drew national attention, pleaded guilty to capital murder Thursday in exchange for a life sentence in prison without the possibility of parole.

Humberto Salinas Jr., 46, admitted to killing Elizabeth after or while kidnapping her in January 2011.

Prosecutors dropped the aggravated kidnapping charge against Salinas as a result of the plea.

Elizabeth’s family members packed the courtroom Thursday morning; and after Salinas was sentenced, several read prepared statements to their loved one’s killer.

Many family members told Salinas, whom the family apparently knew well, they hoped he suffered, and they would have rather him be killed than allowed to serve life in prison.

“You can thank DA Matt Powell for your life because I voted to have you laid out on a gurney,” said Lily Huckabee, Elizabeth’s aunt.

Powell, Lubbock County criminal district attorney, said he struggled with the decision over whether to take the case to trial or offer Salinas a deal.

Ultimately, there were details in the case that would have potentially cast the family and Elizabeth in a negative light, and Powell opted to give them closure and still keep Salinas from ever leaving prison, he said.

As to a possible motive, Powell had a simple answer.

“I think there’s just evil in the world, and she ran into it that day,” he said.

Dennis Reeves, an attorney with the office of the Regional Public Defender for Capital Cases, who represented Salinas, praised both the work of the Lubbock Police Department and Powell’s office.

“It’s the hope of Humberto and our office that this sentence today of life without the possibility of parole will somehow benefit and somehow help Elizabeth’s family and her friends,” Reeves said.

Salinas was seen on video Jan. 5, 2011, forcing Elizabeth into the parking lot of the Carriage House Motel and then returning alone nearly half an hour later.

Police have said they believe Salinas killed Elizabeth during that half-hour window.

She was reported missing after she did not return home from baby-sitting for Salinas’ family.

Salinas was arrested Jan. 20, and Elizabeth’s body was found Jan. 24 in a field near Shallowater.

There were some even-keeled statements from family members between diatribes.

“I can’t say I’m angry with you because your anger killed my cousin, and I don’t want to be anything like you,” Mary Gomez said.